Hello my beautiful friends, from the title you can tell what I am going to be diving into today! Some solutions to what could be causing your acne and what has been causing mine. After doing some intensive research and reviewing other peoples’ experiences, along with my own, I have concluded some top tips and things to look out for that could be causing your acne. So lets jump in!

1.PILLOW

How many times a month do you wash and change your pillow? Many people reply with every two weeks or once a month. Well if you are taking your phone to bed with you ( which carries a load of bacteria) and placing that on your pillow while your watching Netflix. You can tell where I’m going with this, then all that lovely bacteria could be causing the acne around your cheeks! Not only that, if your going to bed with makeup on ( BIG NO NO ) then night after night your pillow is harboring more and more bacteria, it just becomes a viscous cycle. Hence why I suggest changing your pillow at least once a week. Another tip would be to check the type of detergent your washing your sheets with, as if you have back acne, you could also be sensitive towards the fabric or the chemicals.

2. HORMONES

Now if you are a woman you know that a fluctuation in hormones can literally drive you crazy, and majority of the time it is due to stress or the time of the month. Cortisol is a hormone that plays a big part in regulating stress, weight, blood pressure to name a few. When your stress levels are high or you have a imbalance of hormones, then these major aspects can get affected and take a tole on you mentally and physically. Hence why it is important to be aware of what is triggering your stress. Are you over worked? Have you got stressful people in your life? You really need to look around and think when do I get the most stressed and is my acne a result of that.

3. DIET

So I am not a nutritionist, however in relation to hormones, a lot of my favorite foods have animal hormones. Such a dairy ( cheese, milk) and even meat. These can be affecting your hormones, and can be causing your acne breakouts. Realizing this I now have reduced my dairy intake and substituent my cows milk with almond or rice milk. I have noticed that my stomach does not feel as upset, for me depending when and how I was in-taking the milk ( raw or cooked) also that my acne has reduced ( it has nearly been a month). Moreover I have reduced my meat portions with a lot more vegetables, or keeping a few days of vegetable meals only.

Another few points I would like to make is keeping hydrated. Not only will your skin look better, but you are less likely to be snacking on junk foods ( salty) as you will feel full. I am not saying to cut or replace meals, however to cut back on “junk” food as a lot of the time there is a ton of E numbers ( which do taste good I admit) but can be a contributing factor.

4. EXERCISE

Again with the hormones, when your workout routine fluctuates, so are your hormones.Hence why it is important to keep a schedule, that way your body will also work in harmony. Another point is that you are also releasing a oily substance known as sebum, so you can imagine when your sweating and the dirt which you are carrying from touching the equipment, can easily land on your face, and cause a breakout. This is because your pores are open and dirt and bacteria can get trapped under the first layer of skin.

Not only that, the detergent, frequency of bathing ( dry your skin out which produces more oils), the deodorant, can all be contributing factors to your acne. So it might be time to review what you are using and if your are sensitive towards it.

5. PRODUCTS

Having acne can make you want to go out and buy everything in order to get rid of it, however it could just be making it worse. Yes there are products which I shall be doing a review on, which can help with the appearance of acne . However some products could be inflaming the skin, causing more oil production and irritation. Hence why I would suggest checking out the ingredients. Products that I tend to use, include an Aloe Vera moisturizer along with a cleanser which contains micellar water for makeup removing. For a long time I used to use the easy option of wipes, however after research and advice, I realized that they are not doing nothing good for my skin.

Exfoliating can be beneficial to the skin to remove dirt, however if you are doing this on a regular basis you could be irritating the skin which then becomes sensitive and dry. Which in turn could make you more likely to break out and produce more oils to help hydrate your skin. While it is important to exfoliate make sure to do things in moderation!

Well there we have it, some of the things that I have found could be contributing to my acne! Make sure to do your own research as everyone is different and by no means am I a professional. I hope that these tips help you discover a solution to your skin issues and please feel free to share your experiences and tips! See you in another post.